In between
by KShade
Summary: Nicole Mackenzie has always wanted to become a Vampyre. When she gets her wish, will she be able to balance her human life and changing species? Will she want to? And, if there's a way to re-become human, will she choose it? Warnings: Strong language, slash and all OC's
1. Best Present Ever!

**Well, here's the non-crappy version of the summary.**

"**Nicole Mackenzie was never an ordinary girl… She's in grade ten, in a Canadian high school, called École Madeleine D'Youville. She's Marked on her way home, secretly. She has to live a double life, fledgling by night, normal kid by day. What happens when she has to choose which life to live, who to be? Is she Nicole Mackenzie, or Rochelle DelaNuit? Human life is based off some stuff that I did in grade seven…T for swearing"**

"Oui, Nicole qu'est-ce que c'est" My French teacher demanded boredly

"J'ai juste voulait que vous pouvez me donnez le travail pour demain, je ne sens pas bien." I sighed, I felt seriously sick, I was coughing constantly, and I felt like I might hurl.

"Oui, c'est page quarante trois à cinquante dans le livret."

"Okay" I got up and left the room, just as the final bell chimed through the drab grey linoleum hallways. I sprinted to my locker, aware of the funny looks I was getting from the majority of my class. I grabbed my binder from where I'd thrown it down and jammed it into my bag. Then, I pulled out my amazing coach sunglasses that I'd bought from goodwill for about five bucks, and put them on. I had a massive headache, and the sun was way too bright.

"Hey! Nicole, hurry your ass up!" My 'friend' Bethany cried. Bethany was the most emotionally abusive, dismissive and cruel friend in the universe. I only hung out with her because she'd be ten times worse if I didn't. Bethany stood right behind my locker, absently playing with her light brown hair. Her shirt today was a highlighter-yellow one that read "Blink if you like me". According to her, that was fairly accurate, because everyone _had_ to like her. She was also wearing a pair of jeans that were a couple sizes too big for her, and her mom's beat up grey sandals. I looked down at my skinny jeans and black fake leather ankle boots, and my dark blue tank top. Beth called that my "Slutty Vampyre Shirt", because it was "too low" and the exact colour of a Vampyre's Mark. I was also wearing a crescent moon necklace that my mom gave me, after all, it was my birthday and she was the only one who knew about my secret wish to become a Vampyre.

"Just meet me on the bus!" I called, after carefully concidering what to say.

"You better not ditch me!" She cried back, and sprinted off to get her favourite spot. I sighed, that was exactly what I'd planned, I was going to walk to the public bus stop, and catch normal city transit. It would take about half an hour more, but that was a price I'd gladly pay. After all, there were less asshats on city transit. I hefted my bag, and waited until I heard the bus leave. I texted my parents not to wait for me, and began the stroll to the bus stop. My phone rang, but I ignored it, and let it go to voicemail, singing along with the song that came up, Thoughtless by KoRn. I was fairly sure the singer was a Vampyre. The crisp spring air felt good on me, even though, inexplicably, it should've been freezing out. I could see frost, dangling from some of the branches, even though it was May 5th, my birthday. The sun was hidden behind some clouds. I felt perfectly at home, as I walked through a street that was embellished with absolutely marvellous oak trees. They were tall enough to blot out the little sun that crept through its cloudy prison. I did a little twirl, feeling like a five year old. Then, I realized how ridiculous I must look, so I settled for singing Going Under by Evanescence. Another singer who was most likely a Vampyre, and that made me jealous.

Just as I was approaching the end of the street, I saw the Vampyre. She had long silky black hair, and intense blue eyes, framed by her Mark. The Crescent moon was filled in, and around it, like a crown, was blue flames that spread across her forehead. She was tall and willowy, with a sense of power about her. Something in those eyes of midnight held me there, frozen. I was completely in awe; I'd never seen a Vampyre so close up before.

"Nicole Mackenzie! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!" she said. She extended one finger and pointed to my forehead. It exploded in pain and I blacked out for a moment. When I came to, the Tracker was still there, standing above me. "Are you okay, child?" She asked

"Yeah. Am I a fledgling?" I asked

"You are indeed."

"That's the best present ever!" I cried out, joyfully. Then I looked up sheepishly, because of my random outburst "Sorry, just got excited, it's my birthday and all"

"It is a relief to see someone like you, who desires to become a Vampyre"

"Thanks! I've always wanted to be one! This is sooo exciting!" Then I thought a little harder "Fuck! My dad's going to _kill_ me!"

"I'll drive you home" The tracker motioned to her car, a gorgeous midnight blue car, sleek and expensive looking. In silver on the doors it read "Calgary House of Night" with a crescent moon beneath it. That was when I realized it. This was not merely an awesome present, this was my destiny.

**Sorry, I know it's shorter than my usual stuff. Based on reality this chapter was the school, Bethany, and Nicole. All under different names in real life though. Pleeeeease review. KShade out. **


	2. Of the Night

**Ok, well, this is chapter 2, enjoy!**

The Tracker was shocked at the amount of knowledge I already had about Vampyres. Normally, she had to explain the basics to whiny distraught teenagers, this time, I was asking her questions about which Element she felt closest to, and her opinion on imprints. When we arrived at my house, or my old house, my mom was waiting at the door, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Nicole Kaylee Mackenzie! Where have-" the Tracker, Alana cut her off.

"Good day Mrs Mackenzie. I trust you know why I'm here."

"but, my daughter can't be a-"

"Fledgling? Yeah, that's what I thought, but this is freaking awesome!" I whooped happily, and then continued up to my room, to pack. I crammed a good two thirds of my wardrobe in a box or two. Then I packed the meaningful stuff. An old photo of me and my friends, a few family pictures, the necklace Grandma gave me before passing away. By the way, am I the only one who finds that expression a little irritating? Then, a stuffed crab, aptly named Crabby, a beat up old blanked named slippery and my pillow. Then, I packed essentials, make-up, iPod, ereader, laptop, jewellery, my wallet, a purse or two and-

"NICOLE!" Dad's voice jarred me from my thoughts. Shit. I quickly crammed every cent I was hiding in my room into one purse, and kicked the boxes downstairs. I dragged my large, beat up green suitcase. Then, I got a better idea. I would need my skates! After all, if I kept practicing, I could make it into the Winter Games! I sprinted to the garage and found my skate bag. on top of it was a letter, adressed to my dad, with the words "Important, Classified" stamped on it. Sue me. I couldn't resist. I crammed it into one of my skates.

"NICOLE KAYLEE MACKENZIE!"

"Yes, dad?" I yelled tentatively

"Why is there a Vampyre in our house?" He said 'Vampyre' the way I'd say STD.

I didn't respond. I heard Alana yell something at him. I moved all my belongings into the foyer. "You can see for yourself." She insisted, and pushed my hair back, revealing the crescent moon on my forehead.

Dad looked oddly composed. "I would like to have a word with her."

"Nicki," He started, once we were well out of earshot "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

_You mean other than 'hell yeah!'_ I thought to myself "No, Dad." I said finally

"Then I have something to say. I don't care why this happened, I don't care what the alternative is, but I am _not _going to tolerate my oldest child being a-a-a-"

"Fledgling?" I put in.

"Exactly." His blue eyes sparkled, cold as his heart. "I want to make you an offer. If you want to go there, you must promise me that for the next four years of your life, you will continue to live your human life. Got it? Going to school, friends, et cetera. No one other than me, you and your mother can know." I saw the severity in every word. He was willing to let me die to keep up appearances! He absently twiddled with his greying black hair.

"Okay."

"Good. Then I expect to hear from you at eight thirty tomorrow morning." He pushed me away.

I smiled at Alana, who was speechless. "Let's go."

When we entered the car, Alana spoke "I cannot believe you agreed to that!"

"It doesn't concern you." I said tiredly.

"It does concern me; I'm your mentor, and you've just made my life very difficult, young Nicole."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know" I said meekly. I was thinking _"And you think it's going to be a cake walk for me?"_

We arrived. It was situated on Nose Hill, as the owner had stipulated that that was the only thing that could be build on this land. It was made of sleek black slate, and there were three buildings. Alana explained that the central building was the classrooms, the tall one on the left was our dorms, and the right was Nyx's chapel. I asked that she show me to my dorm. She declined, and asked me a few other things.

"When you become a Fledgling, many choose to part with their old names, and therefore their human selves, to become something new, something better. Obviously by day this won't be in effect, given your circumstances, however that shouldn't stop you."

I thought hard. I wanted something mysterious, something different. Then, I heard the voice of Nyx at my ear. _Rochelle DelaNuit_ she whispered, sending shivers down my spine. No, not right, a feeling of anticipation.

"Rochelle DelaNuit." I said, the words themselves meaning Rochelle of the Night. Huh, well, that's a good sign.

"Okay, and if you don't mind, I'll be sending someone to help you with your things. His name is Malik."

"Perfect. Thanks!" I gave her a huge hug, which she awkwardly returned. Oopsie. I guess she's not a hugger. I awkwardly let go.

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked

"Wherever you decide to go, and what you do is up to you."

"Okay." I said bravely "Then I'm going to be the best Fledgling I can be, and somehow attempt to live my human life too"

"May Nyx be with you, Rochelle DelaNuit." And for the first time since fourth grade, I felt like I really belonged somewhere.

**Well, I like where this one's going, but I need OC's, I'll create a SYOC (Submit your own character) story, it's for any story you choose. Thanks! Review. KShade out.**


	3. Roommate

Chapter three

I stood there for a while, waiting. I was worried this Warrior Alana had mentioned was going to be a no-show. Wouldn't that be just typical, me getting stood up by a guy? Plus, there was the whole living a human life thing. Suckish to the nth degree. If it was the price to this new life though, I was in! Granted, I would accept anything other than death just to become a Vampyre. I sighed. This was starting to get tedious. Then, someone passed me. She smiled at me, through her short brown hair that had blown into her face. She was fairly pretty, with short, light brown hair that had streaks of blonde in it. She was tall, with long legs, and piercing grey eyes. She also had a bit of a tan, which was ironic, considering all the humans think we're deathly pale.

"You lost?" She demanded

"No, I'm checking out the view with my suitcases." I replied sarcastically

"Well, good luck, the Warriors train here after school."

I smiled "I'm new, can you show me where my room is?"

"Well, 'New', I think you might be in luck. My Friend Calla said she'd be getting a roommate."

I smiled "Great. Um, should we uh… wait a little? Alana said she'd send someone."

"Who?"

"Malik, I think"

She sighed "You're going to be a while. Malik never takes new fledglings seriously. He'll probably show up at about noon, if you're lucky."

"Why?" I asked perplexedly "wasn't he new too once?"

"Don't take it personally. He stands us all up, indiscriminately, out of the goodness of his heart" I bitter look passed through her eyes. Not wanting to get to the heart of anything too serious, I just shrugged noncommittally.

"This way, I'd like to get you to the dorm before classes, and then you can unpack in time for second." The girl began to walk to the left

"One question, what's your name?" I asked, hoping I'd made a friend here.

"Caitlyn Gray, my friends call me Kat, you?"

"Rochelle DelaNuit, my friends call me New" I joked, hoping she'd get the underlying message.

"I think Shell would suffice." She responded, as she opened the tall wooden doors. I laughed as one of them creaked a little, and Kat shot me a questioning look.

"It's super-ironic" I explained "The creaky horror movie door sounds at the best place I've been!"

"Don't be too pessimistic" She teased. We climbed one- two- three floors, hefting boxes of my stuff up, to a door labelled "130, knock before you enter" I rapped the sturdy oak door, emitting a loud echo. The girl behind it opened the door, still in her fuzzy blue pyjamas. Her long chocolate brown hair was mussed, as though she'd barely slept, but her blue eyes looked friendly enough. She was also quite tall, about three inches taller than Kay and about five taller than me.

"Look, for the last time, Kat, no I do not want to come jogging" She sighed, and then her eyes met mine. "Oh. Um hi, are you Rochelle DelaNuit?" she asked

"How do you know my name?" I demanded anxiously

She laughed "Don't worry, I'm not your stalker, High Priestess Talia told me you'd arrive today."

Okay, well that was weird. "Cool. Um hi." I said ever so lingually

"Calla. My friends call me Lily." She introduced herself

"Mine call me Shell, or New."

"Well Shell, I think we're going to get along just fine." Lily smiled and then thanked Kat for showing me the way here.

**Well, that was chapter three. Next we'll get into Vampyre school. Thanks to Firestorm Runner and ReadandWrite15 for the OC's seen in this chapter. Soory, I'll make it longer next time, this came out of my study time. Review, and don't forget to Syoc. KShade.**


	4. Dying

**Major thanks to: BlissaLee, Halfmoon, Kay is for Candor, and Ryssa. These are the people who gave me the characters in this chapter. Thanks to everyone else who SYOC'd. Based on real life, Professor April, she was my band teacher in grade 7/8. (Love you MME!)**

Lily was a fourth former, so she couldn't go with me to classes, but she showed me where to go. When I arrived at my first class, music, I was surprised at the number of fledglings here. There were about thirty of us total. The music Prof looked like she was barely older than us. She had short, whitish hair and brown eyes. Her sapphire Mark was completed with a treble clef beside it. She greeted me immediately.

"Merry meet. I'm Professor April, you must be Rochelle DelaNuit" I nodded

"Great, do you play an instrument?"

"Flute." I sucked at it, but I could play.

"Excellent" She went to her desk, and found a golden flute. "Will this suffice?"

I felt like that instrument was the most beautiful thing I'd seen. "It's amazing!" I whispered, in an awed tone.

"I think you two will come to be very good friends" She said knowingly, and then left me to set it up. I took the vacant seat at the front, with the rest of the flutes. Beside me was a short, pale girl, with a billowing cloud of hair. Her green eyes flashed blue and then she made a shhh-ing motion and she disappeared entirely. Whoa!

"Indigo Marius, please refrain from doing that in my class" Professor April reprimanded. The girl snapped into existence again, with a reddish tint in her eyes. Then, she shook her head and they turned green again.

"I'm Indy, you are?"

"Shell" I responded blankly "How did you-"

"It's a gift from Nyx." She smiled "Welcome to hell."

"Pardon?" I asked

"Welcome to hell. This place is hell. Ailith won't like you; ergo this place is going to be hell."

"Ailith?" I asked "who's she?"

"Resident tyrant. Sixth former, pretty, rich, popular, pure evil, one of those girls."

Then, he entered the room. He was tall, and the most gorgeous male I'd ever had the pleasure of seeing. He had chestnut brown hair that graced the top of his sun kissed face. His face was adorned with the crescent moon, and his green eyes were full of a sort of confidence. His perfect, sculpted face was home to a long, regal nose, and a sinfully beautiful mouth. He had strong, muscular arms, and looked strong, like he could handle himself in a fight. On his arm was an equally perfect girl. She had raven hair, long and straight. Like three hours with a straightener type straight. She had eyes like obsidian, full of the same confidence that the guy possessed. She had a slight tan, as though she'd been to the beach recently. On her forehead was the blue crescent moon. She wore a little golden eye shadow, which looked as though it'd been professionally done. She had the figure of a model, post-Photoshop. The super thin, yet voluptuous sort. Long legs peeped out of her super-mini skirt. When her eyes settled on me, her lip curled up. I wasn't good enough.

"Malik, you liar!' she smacked his arm flirtatiously "This room is _not_ vacant."

Malik. That had been the warrior sent to show me around.

"Sorry, love. I was sure the band geeks were on tour this week." He responded

"Sorry isn't good enough. Find us a room that's sufficiently empty."

"Is your dorm not-" Indy made gagging sounds

"Not good enough. My lame-ass roommate's too busy dying for us to use it."

I looked at Indy with a question mark look.

"Rejecting the change. She was my only friend here."

"Indigo. If class is too difficult for you today, you may take Miss DelaNuit on a school tour." Professor April said, sympathetically.

"Thank Nyx." She got up, and grabbed my hand. Ailith shot me a look as we passed her.

"So you know, I own this place. If you don't like that, the door's that way." She pointed at the door. I neglected to respond.

"Can we make a stop?" Indy asked "I wanna say goodbye."

I nodded, and we walked to the dorm building. On the highest floor, Indy found room One. We opened the door, and the smell hit me first. I can't explain it, but it smelled like death. On the bed nearest the window, was a girl. She was as pale as death, and emaciated. She let out a hacking cough, and then looked up to see us. Her hair was that super-bright, strawberry-red colour; she had light blue eyes, tinted red from blood that was slowly seeping in. I gasped.

"Indy, who's this?" She rasped, and then coughed again

"Um, I'm Shell. I'm new here." I explained "Are you okay?"

"Fuck no. I'm dying."

Indy's eyes were dead white, like the colour of the girl's face. "Lex, this is Shell, Shell, this is Alexa Dawn."

"Hi." Was all I could choke out

"I'm glad you came." She rasped at Indy, or me, or the two of us, I wasn't sure.

"Lex. At my old school, fledglings came back. They had a red Mark and some of them were freaking scary but maybe-" Indy fell silent.

"If I un-die, I'll find you, okay?" she responded "And tell the parental units that I'm on vacation, okay."

"Remember, I love you. Never think that I don't" Indy gave Alexa a light kiss, Alexa kissed her back. I looked away. Indy turned on the music, and I saw Alexa relax visibly. The song was wild, and insane, and kinda cool. I looked at the iPod in the corner. Toxicity by System of a Down. Lex recovered enough to sing along, for the last chorus, and then, suddenly gave one last hacking cough and died. Indy started to cry, the sobs wracking her body. She then saw me, and turned invisible.

"Indy, it's okay. You loved her, but she may not even be gone, like you said."

She turned partially visible, so I could see where she was, and I put my arm around her, to console her. The song switched to one I didn't recognize, halfway through.

"Say you want to stay, you want me to

Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me

I want to know I belong to you

Say you'll haunt me

Together, together we'll be together, together forever" The screen, ironically enough, said "say you'll haunt me" as the song title.

"It's a sign!" Indy cried "Music was her affinity!" Then she looked at me "you don't have an issue with the fact that I like girls, do you?" She looked like a vulnerable little child

"If you don't have an issue that I like guys" I replied. Indy ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"You are the best friend ever!" we linked arms, and she guided me around the school.

**Well, this is Indy, Halfmoon's OC, Alexa, Ryssa's OC, Ailith, blissaLee's OC and Malik, Kay is for Candor's OC. I could use a few more, there's no limit on the number of OC's you can submit, and I have like two stories that are dying for them, and one or two that sorta need some./ Review and SYOC, KShade out.**


	5. Making friends

**Well, Hi. I'm getting a laptop soon, so I may be gone a few days in between deleting my files here and moving them there. Still, here's chapter five.**

Classes sped by in a flash, until lunch. At lunch, Calla found me, and guided me to her table. Then, Indy found me and tried to guide me to hers. I sighed

"Indy, sit here, I'll introduce you." She turned translucent and sat down.

"Indy, this is Kat and Lily." I smiled "Lily's my roommate."

"And, these are Rilanna-Apolla and Ares, over there" Kat pointed at a pretty girl with long silvery blonde hair and the guy she was sitting with.

"That guy there is Jaylen" she pointed at the guy to the right of her. Then a girl came walking in with a wolf. Yep, a wolf. "I'm Andy" She smiled "Kat's roommate. It's sooo nice not being the new girl anymore"

"Over there is Scorn, be warned, he remembers everything and he's a bit of a joker" Kat finished. "Um, nice to meet you all. I'm Shell. It's my first day, and this is Indy. She's in band with me."

"Is Alexa okay?" Andy asked, I guess unaware of what happened "You two are normally inseparable"

"No. she's not okay. She died today." Indy's irises turned white, and she began to pick at her salad disconsolately.

"No! OhmiGoddess, I am so so so sorry!" Andy blurted "I shouldn't have asked"

"You had no reason not to" Kat pointed out "You didn't know"

"Remember what she told you." I whispered, Indy smiled and whipped out her iPod so she could repetively play that song.

Scorn plonked down beside Jaylen. "Well, new girl, where's the blood?" he asked

"Blood?" I asked perplexedly

"Well yeah, you need to drink it or you'll end up dying."

I laughed "Right, you also need to believe in Santa Claus. I did my research before I came here. Nice try"

"Smart too" He smiled, "I'm Scorn, you are?"

"Shell." He reached out to shake my hand, and then fell to the ground. And started coughing. Indy whirled around, and then sprinted off. He got up laughing at our shock "I'm fine guys! What was Ghost-Girl's deal?"

I pushed him "Her name is Indigo, and her girlfriend just died. You freaked the shit out of her" I ran after Indy. I found her crying in the bathroom. Completely invisible

"It's okay." I whispered "Scorn just does stuff like that, he's not actually dying" She flashed visible, and her eyes turned red. "He did that on purpose?"

"No!" I argued "He didn't know about Lex."

"He might have. Like I said earlier, welcome to Hell."

I turned around to see Jaylen. "I just came to see if you two were okay." He smiled shyly "Scorn said he was sorry."

"It's okay." Indy's eyes had cooled off to a deep blue. "It wasn't his fault."

"So, is everyone okay?" He asked

"yeah, I'm good." I agreed "It was nice of you to come looking for us."

I looked over at Jaylen, he looked pretty nice, I mean, not like Malik, but good. He was taller than an average guy, and had skin the colour of chocolate. His eyes were light brown and had a friendly look to them. He had short, army cut black hair. He was muscular too, but not like those crazy gym-nuts, in a more real life way. Like he was an athlete. And he was nice. Nice enough to go after a new girl and the girl no one notices when there appeared to be a problem. I was liking the new friends I'd met here.

**Well, this concludes chapter 5. New OC's seen are as follows Jaylen (Storm0Wolf), Rilanna-Apolla and Scorn (ShadowDude90), Ares (XxUndercoverflowerpolicexX) and Andy (Daughter-of-Neptune-16). Thanks to everyone who submitted an OC. KShade out. **


	6. Fledgling friends

**Well, I'd like to thank all the people who submitted characters for this fic. You guys have saved my ass so many times, and given me so much to work with. Cookies to you all! Also, to clarify something, I love Scorn as a character, but in real life, he would not get along with anyone like Indy. She's too serious. So yeah, read on.**

After classes, I sprinted to catch up with my friends. Indy had gone to her room, and refused to come out, but I thought it would be best to leave her there, for the time being.

When I caught up to them, I asked Jaylen where we were going. Just as he was about to respond, Scorn saw that I was there "Okay, Shell I'm sorry, I didn't know"

I cut him off after that much "I get it. You had no clue, no one did. We looked to serious. It's fine." I smiled at him "Friends?"

"Yeah." He smiled back. Scorn was a pretty fun guy, I found out, and very high-energy. He had light brown hair, and skin just a tad darker, making me feel ridiculously pale. He was tall and lean, and in his brown eyes, you could just see the mischief.

"So Shell, we were thinking of going to the movies on Friday, you in?" Andy asked. Her brown hair blew lazily in the small breeze. Her pretty sea-green eyes looked imploring, like she actually cared whether I came or not.

"Sure." I smiled at the thought of going to hang out with some real friends. Unlike my human friends.

Then, abruptly, everyone stopped. It was Rilanna-Apolla. Her eyes were closed, and she was sort of whispering something. Her long silvery hair was strewn out over Ares, who was holding onto her. The golden circlet that held it in place looked dangerously ready to fall off. Ares guided her to a bench, concern evident in his blue eyes. Eventually, she tripped, and he scooped her up into his arms. Wow, most of the humans I knew would've pushed her. She clutched onto him, still having what I understood to be a vision. He eventually sat her down on a bench, and we all stood there hesitantly, watching her to see if she was going to come out. She eyes slowly blinked open.

"You, Shell. I need to talk to you." She spoke her brown eyes flicked around the group of us "alone"

Everyone else walked off. "Shell, I'm getting conflicting visions of one, you're at a human school, and the humans killed you. Well, one individual with a gun. In another, for some reason you are human, and I don't get visions of the past. Then there was the one where you had a red mark. All I know is there's something weird going on and it's centered on you"

"So I get killed?" I asked

"Yeah, for pretending to be human. Personally, that seems unlikely to me. You don't seem like you miss being human."

"I don't." I spoke the truth there "Even when I was human, I wanted to become a Vampyre."

"Then don't stop now." She reached for my hair, and unclipped the clip in it. "It was navy; it didn't go with your uniform. Calla swears my other affinity is fashion." We called the others back. I was kind of freaked out. I didn't think trying to be human would be that dangerous. Jaylen probably noticed that, so he walked over to me, because I was trailing behind the others.

"What did Riley see?" He asked

"Three things. I have to die in at least one of them." I explained

"They're not always right, you know." He explained "she saw me being hit by a car, and we avoided that."

"I'm glad." I replied "you seem really nice"

"I try." He responded

"Yeah. That's what I like about you guys. Unlike my old friends you guys actually care" I added "you should see what they did to new kids at my old school."

"The typical send them to the wrong classes and glue their lockers shut?" he asked

"Nope, steal their clothing during gym and fly it up the flagpole. Staple any papers you can get from them to the ceiling. Tell them that there's a zero-tolerance policy for and English speaking, and watch them stammer."

"You were French Immersion?"

"Yep, École Madeleine D'Youville, I was in grade ten."

"No way! I went there last year!" He exclaimed

"Did you have Mme LaMellieure last year?" I asked "She totally had it out for me!" I was referring to the psychotic social teacher. She had made my life hell, with insane due dates, monolithic tests and endless yammering in French.

"Monsieur McLee, assieds-toi!" (Mr. McLee, sit down) He mimicked her high pitched screechy voice.

"Mademoiselle Mackenzie! Y-a-t'il quelque chose que vous voulez nous disons?" (Miss Mackenzie, what do you want to tell us all?) I giggled

"Monsieur McLee! Où est tes devoirs? Fais-tu rien dans ta vie!"(Mr. McLee, where is your homework? Do you do anything in your life) He mimicked

"Mademoiselle Mackenzie! Vous devez fais un effort ou je vais te manger!" (Miss Mackenzie! You have to try or I'll eat you!) I doubled over

"What!"" Jaylen asked, laughing with me "Did she actually say that?"

"Nope. But seriously, she acts like it. Have you seen the way she looks at some kids, only pedophiles and cannibals look at kids that way."

"This girl in my class, Shae, she got straight A's and never lifted a finger." Jaylen started

"Holy shit, how?"

"she dressed like a slut. Mme LaMellieure was in her glory. Voici cette carte du Japon pendant l'ère Éd- Oh mon dieu" he gasped and widened his eyes "Vous semblez si belle Shae!" (Look at this map of Japan during the Edo era—Oh my God! You look so pretty, Shae.)

I doubled over laughing. "Whoa!" I choked out appreciatively

"She changed after that year. She went Goth for one thing. Became withdrawn."

"You two stayed friends?" I asked

"Yeah. Did you keep anyone?" he asked

"Uh, no. The humans I knew there seriously were _not_ the kind of friends you keep." I explained

"Call it sappy, but I don't think it's about what you are, it's about who you are" And I wanted desperately to believe him…

**Well, based on my life this chapter: The social teacher (Though there was no Shae). This was written on Lenny the Lenovo (My laptop). The French was written by yours truly. Any mistakes are mine and I'm sorry. This is seriously early, I know. KShade out.**


	7. Human school

**Well, this is the next chapter. Nothing much to say.**

"Call it sappy, but I don't think it's about what you are, it's about who you are"

On the ride to human school, I fixated on this phrase. On Jaylen. Alana dropped me off, and drove away, in her discreet car, meaning the one without the house of night stuff. Bethany ranted at me from the instant I got there, so I pushed her, and she fell into a planter. She shot me a dirty look, and I yelled "If that's what you think of me, just go away!"

She cursed under her breath, and walked off. Marie, the class's smart girl/suck up walked up to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked concernedly. Marie, whatever her faults was kind to a fault. In homeroom, I sat with her, Rose, Joanna, and Madi. Rose and Madi were singing and drawing Disney. By grade ten, you should not still be hooked on Disney. Joanna was Talking to me about skating, and big shock, Marie was doing homework. Bethany shot me glares, and Mr. Stevens, typically made a speciesist comment. Some anti-vamp statement. My blood started to boil. I'd met Fledglings twice the man he was. I raised my hand.

"Yes, miss Mackenzie." He replied

"I maintain that, you have your information quite wrong, sir. In your 'bloodsucker' comment you neglected the biter-bitee equality paradox. Vampyres don't feed without express permission of said bitee." I was through with my species taking shit from humans

"So, miss Mackenzie, you justify us being treated like cattle, existing for food purposes, only? Those humans had it right in Tulsa." The bell rang, but I stayed put, because I had Sciences-10-a with Mr. Stevens.

"Beg pardon ,but what humans?" I demanded

"Two Vampyres were killed in Tulsa, just before New Year's." His eyes gleamed at the thought of dead vamps.

"I heard about those. A Poet Laureate and a Drama Teacher. Crucified outside their school." I felt my dinner rise. "And you justify that?" I demanded

"Damned bloodsuckers are a blight on our world." He explained ambiguously

"That's the kind of logic that started slavery. Objectification of people. Dehumanization of people." I argued

"Amuse me." By this time, the rest of the class was in the room.

"Okay, well, let's start with the humans that love them. Consorts, donors, friends." I pointed out

"Consorts." He laughed "Those suckers. You argue about objectification, and yet have the audacity to mention them."

"They love their Vampyres. In the Vampyre community, they're treated with utmost respect." I argued "You're just a human who automatically assumes that anything different is bad. This was how the Salem witch trials started as well."

"And witches, like Vampyres deserved what they got." He snapped

"Innocents were killed" My voice shot up an octave with my rising derision

"Thus is the price of a safe society" He snapped "Now, Miss Mackenzie, if you don't mind, I have a class to teach, so either shut up, or get out"

I got up and walked out, seething. I walked to the bathroom, and stared at the stall walls. There was all matter of gossip immortalized there. Then, I saw the sharpie in my pocket. I blame Mr. Stevens.

Being a leftie, I wrote in right-handed writing "There is lie in believe, and it's put there by you." I signed it with a crescent moon. Having vented my anger with this atypical display of destruction of property, I took a deep breath, exited the stall, and fixed my concealer. Can't show any crescent, now can I?

I hefted my binders and strutted down the hall, with my head held high. I walked straight into one of the grade elevens. She had dyed raven hair, and iridescent green contacts. Her eyes were lidded with black powder, and her lips were slicked with black lipstick. She ported ripped black skinny jeans, and a black shirt that had KoRn on it.

"KoRn!" I cried "I love KoRn"

She gave me a look, as though trying to determine if I was bullshitting her. "Name me six songs then."

"Thoughtless, Freak on a Leash, Liar, Dead Bodies Everywhere, Twisted Transistor and Make me Bad" I listed off

"Impressive." The girl smiled "Thorn Wilder, you are?"

"Roch-" I started "Nicole Mackenzie"

"Shae Wilder, if you don't get back to class, I'll-" a teacher cried

"Run" she whispered, and we sprinted for the vending machine. We dove behind it, her bag drawing blood as it connected with my leg. That's why you don't carry spiked accessories and run. Then, I thought hard.

"That teacher called you Shae. Are you the Shae?" I asked

"I'm not the anything." She shrugged

I rephrased it "Are you Jaylen's friend Shae?"

She perked up at the sound of his name "Jaylen? You know Jaylen? How?" She asked

"My friend Rochelle got Marked, and she met him, she said he's pretty nice." I explained

Shae/Thorn smiled "Jaylen's more than nice, he's damned selfless. He's the best guy Rochelle's ever going to meet. Does she like him?"

"She didn't say, except she told me a story about what happened when she met him."

"Please share!" Thorn's eyes lit up

"So, she's sitting down at lunch, with her friends, one girl—Indy she had no one at the school except her newly dead girlfriend, and Rochelle. So, this one kid pranked us, and she freaked and ran, because he was fake-rejecting the change. So Rochelle ran after her, and then, Jaylen came to find the new girl, and the girl no one cared about. Rochelle was so shocked."

"Typical Jaylen." Thorn smiled "Rochelle's a lucky girl."

"Yeah, I always thought so." I said honestly "She's going to be a Vampyre."

Thorn slid down the arm of her shirt, revealing a black mark, like a burn, tattooed into her skin. "I never can be. They've developed an experimental cure. They stick this thing in your arm, and it burns you, or it feels like it does as it spreads into this." She gestured at the circle. "I was Marked, but they decided to use me as the tester. They took it away from me. Everything. My destiny, my life." She let a few tears drift free, carrying deposits of make-up with them.

I heard Jaylen's voice again "Call it sappy, but I don't think it's about what you are, it's about who you are" In that moment, I saw it's truth.

"Hey, Thorn, easy. I believe Nyx is still with you, it's not about what you are, but who you are." Her tears dried up

"You really think so?" She asked fragilely

"I know so." I smiled mysteriously, and proceeded to the next class when the bell rang. Huh well, I guess Jaylen was right.

**Well, real life this chapter: Bethany, Marie, Joanna, Rose, Madi, and the writing in the bathroom (It was something that happened at my school.) Review, KShade out**


	8. Fine again?

**Ok, here goes. Written on vacay, go easy. Not my best.**

Well, the rest of my classes were only minutely better, and only for my answers on the social test. For one thing, I wrote my name as 'your nightmare mwahahaha'. Then, for the typical 'who is the prime minister of Canada', I responded with 'Lord Voldemort, aka your Mom' for the question about who created the Canadian Charter of rights and freedoms, I wrote 'Albus Dumbledore, Slipknot, Lord Voldemort and Victoria from Twilight'. For the question on what MLA stood for, I replied 'Many lemons at last', and drew a winking face. Then, for the more difficult questions, I just made sure they had a fictional character, or the words 'your mom' in them. When Marie collected them, she stared at my answers in disbelief.

"Nic, are you alright?" She asked, still gaping at some of the things I'd written

I smiled "Never better."

"Then what's with-" she motioned to my test

"I answered as I saw fit." I giggled. "Sue me"

She sighed "but what about your marks?"

I giggled harder, thinking the other kind of Mark. "This isn't the mark I need" I said cryptically, and left as the bell rang. Predictably, the class after, I got sent to the councillor's room, for generic rebellious teenager disorder. The councillor was old, and had hair that looked as though she'd never had it cut.

"So, Nicole, can you explain what provoked you to answer like you did?" She asked in her squeaky, Minnie-mouse voice

"They were pretty fricken funny, weren't they?" I asked "I mean, Lord Voldemort?" she didn't even smile

"Nicole. Mme. LaMellieure wants qto give you a week and a half of detention. This is no laughing matter." Blah, blah, blah, my future. Blah, blah, blah, no career. Et cetera.

"Look. Here's what you tell LaMellieure. Nicole was stressed out. You can just Avada Kedavra her." I giggled at my joke

"Nicole!" she exclaimed

"No, better yet, send me to Azkaban! Make me write 'I must not tell lies'! transfigure me into a toad!" I giggled even harder. Thorn arrived.

"Hey! Mme! Monsieur Stevens wants to see you!" she announced; the councillor left. "So, you come here often?" she asked me

"Actually, I didn't know we even had a councillor until now. I got sent. I threw a LaMellieure test" I replied

"Shit! Actually!? I did that all the time in tenth!" Thorn's eyes lit up "The trick is, if you act like a slut, she'll give you nineties!" She laughed "It's extreme, but hey, I wanted to actually pass the course, and I _hate_ studying."

I laughed "With you on that!" then the councillor returned, looking angry "Do any of you know who's responsible for this!?" she held up a picture of my graffiti. It figures, conversations about who screwed who are fine, but the minute the conversation takes a religious turn, admin gets involved.

Thorn looked at it admiringly "Whoa! That's hardcore!"

"Is this yours, Shae?" The councillor demanded "This looks like one of your little stunts!"

Thorn signed her name in both hands "innocent here Mme" She smiled

The councillor sighed and dismissed us for lunch. Thorn, showed me the spot she chose, an off campus table, in a coffee shop. She whipped out her sketchbook and showed me a sketch of herself. She was holding a translucent sign that read 'I have nothing left to lose' the background was of a crowd of people, including doctors, students, teachers, and just random adults. One doctor looked like my dad.

"Have you seen the video for Fine Again?" she asked

"By Seether?" I asked "Yeah, that's cool!"

On the next page is Jaylen, and his sign reads 'one person to make a difference'

She begins to sketch me, and in my sign, she writes the thing from the wall. "That was you, wasn't it?" she asked

"How did you know?" I asked

"You started blushing when the councillor got involved. And you have sharpie on your hands." She noted

"It was me." I admitted

"So, pro-vamp graffiti? Is this for your friend Rochelle?"

I had to decide between telling her and just sort of agreeing. Cowardice wins. "Yeah" I shrug "Well, that and I'm sort of a human that believes in Nyx." I added

Thorn gave me a hug "Thank Nyx for that! I was going to kill myself if I didn't find another of you guys!" when I look puzzled she reminded me "hey, catholic school, where the hell is the diversity?"

"Why do you go to it, then?" I asked

She shrugged "Dad won't let me leave. Doesn't give two shits about any other part of my life, 'cept my species."

And it was then that I decided that Thorn Wilder was going to have to become a vampyre again. The only issue was how.

_Later_

I got back to the House of Night just in time to nab some sleep. I tiptoed into the dorm, and saw Calla, fast asleep. She looked peaceful. I just had one matter left to solve, something leaving me uneasy. I walked to my skate bag, and pulled out the important letter to my dad. I couldn't get it out of my head that the doctor in Thorn's picture was my father. It looked spot-on. I opened the letter.

"_Daryl Mackenzie,_

_Your idea of curing vampirism is quite fascinating. It makes the thought of Vampyres more mundane, and less romanticized by the general public. Something as such is heavily desirable because more and more people are leaving humanity behind for those demons_." I fumed at that. Who the hell was he/she to call _us_ demons. They were the ones shooting crap into people, looking for a 'cure'! I was just hoping that these hadn't been the people who 'cured' Thorn

"_Your research into this substance is indeed, Nobel Prize-worthy. What did you call it, Darylite? It defies gravity like a gas, but moves like a solid or liquid, it's destructive power is impressive, twinned with its ability to—inexplicably cure those poor teens afflicted with vampirism. How's our test subject doing? She claims that she preferred to be a Vampyre, but I think it to be bravado_." All I can think is "shit, shit, shit! It's Thorn"

"_Fred was right though, his older daughter is trouble. His younger daughter, Shae appears to be trying to follow her descent to vampirism, despite being impeded by our cure. We'll test four others, and if that works, we'll give you a patent on it, and ensure everyone has it_." Crap, it was definitely Shae, and we were four tests away from it going viral. The minute it did, I would be endangered.

"_Do you know any voluntary Vampyres? Not that you would, given they all appear to have bought into the idea that they were chosen, by a goddess "Nyx" to be precise. How ludicrous_." I felt a burning desire to rip it. Who are they to make fun of our beliefs? Who are they to call us delusional?

_" Is your daughter, Nicole still bent on it? After the conversation we overheard between her and Deb, one can only hope not. Granted, if she does, do I have your permission to use as a test subject?_

_Regards,_

_Delilah Wintree_" I was going to be a tester. I was certain of that now. Father would throw me under the bus easily and remorselessly, I'd get to 'help his cure'. One rebellious teenager sacrificed for the 'good' of the world. No, scratch that, five rebellious teenagers. Because the good kids won't be picked, just the rebels, so that if we say- die – no one will care. There were another few letters, stapled together. The next one is from dad.

"_Delilah,_

_Nicole is showing no such inclination, after further monitoring. I didn't want to be like Fred, with such a blight on the family tree. Stevens is keeping an eye on her at school, he's her science/homeroom teacher_." Shit. Mr. Stevens made those comments to test me! I'd just failed the test!

"_I believe I've found a second test subject, her name is Taylor Bell. She volunteered. She has been a fledgling for close to four years. I'm flying to the site, to collect some Darylite for her cure. I will administer it in nine weeks_." I recalled him going away on business about a month and a bit ago. That must've been a Darylite excursion. Taylor Bell would have one to three weeks left.

"_it turns out, blood is the key to Darylite mining. It has a magnetic attraction to blood. (Perhaps the iron) We brought home a sufficient quantity of Darylite, but it didn't always stay, it would slip out of the containment units, seemingly at random. I am certain it's nothing more than employee sabotage_." I hoped the saboteur would sabotage a considerable amount more.

"_Dan, Jason and Simon are saying they may have more volunteers. We could well have those five required. Possibly six. I'll keep you updated. I checked in with Wilder (I refuse to call him Fred), he says we 'ruined Shae' direct quote. Allegedly, she's lost any vestiges of bubbly, happy Shae Wilder, and she's become withdrawn, even answers to a different name, Thorn. I think it's typical teenage drama queen syndrome_." That also upset me. He took away everything that mattered to her, ripped it out of her hands, to never be re-obtained, and for being upset, she's a drama queen. Unbelievable. That's hypocrisy, for sure. And what they're doing should be illegal.

"Hey, Shell" Calla whispered "Why the heck are you still up?"

Carp Crap! (As me and one of my old friends used to joke, because of a typo in a text) I was caught!

"Reading" I technically was, so it wasn't a lie.

"Cool, which book?" She asked. Crap I had nothing.

"Um. Letters." I waved the stack _intelligently. _"From my dad."

"Cool. Are you two close?" she asked

"No." I said cryptically "I mean yes!"

Calla sighed "Why don't we just talk in the morning? None of this is making any sense" she rolled over and fell asleep.

"_If, however, it isn't, we cannot allow the general public to see the effects. As you and Wilder have a better relationship that mine with him, please mollify the situation by asking if he'd consider putting her on anti-depressants. Nothing too strong, just enough to make her look less damaged. She actually sent me a package today, containing a picture, a sound chip, set to as loud as possible and a mask, with a crescent moon on its forehead. The drawing was the oddest. It was entitled "fine again" an oxymoron to the content. She was holding a sign that said "Can you take it all away?" and there was a noose above the operating table, with me as the hanger. The sound chip played clips of songs. _

_"You say it's over and I'm fine again, yeah, why try to stay sober when I'm dying here?"_

_"Can you take it all away, can you take it all away, will you shove it in my face, this pain you give to me"'_

_"So you can try to tear me down, beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming." How redundant. She got her point across with just the picture_" I wanted to rip the letter into little bits. He ruined Thorn's life, and then had the audacity to criticise and judge her reaction to it. What did he expect her to do, smile and say "Thank you sir, and please wreck it again in three years, for university". I suddenly realized how little I knew about my father.

"_Oh well, I've sent you the picture, do what you please with it, just don't send it to the Nobel Prize committee. I was thinking we'd call the cure "The Mackenzie-Wintree effect" I told Deb about my success, and she just sighed and told me that I couldn't test it on anyone she knew. I'm in trouble for even using Shae, (Here on referred to as subject one). Deb's friends with Alison and Alison got angry that her daughter (direct quote) 'lost her freaking marbles' and decided to sue us .Deb talked her out of it, because Alison ultimately didn't want to sue her husband._" Great. So now they objectify Shae. Am I the only one here to stick up for her?

"_Anyways, write me back on our website, I'm DMack _

_Regards,_

_Daryl" _

Delilah's next letter was short, saying for dad to email her, and that her email address was DWinner .

The final straw was when Thorn's drawing fell out. I was going to have to take them down. Them and their cure, because people shouldn't do this to other people. It was wrong on many, many levels, and I wasn't letting my new friend be a statistic.

**Well, this was written in the car, so it probably wasn't my best, but it's longer than normal, so I hope the extra makes up for it. Umm, the reality this chapter was in the way Daryl and Delilah talked. A lot like some business letters I'd seen between my Dad and a colleague. Well, review. If your OC has not appeared yet, you are going to have an extremely special role, or you just didn't give me enough info. Probably the former. KShade over and out.**


	9. Two weeks

**Well, After the last chapter, things are going to get **_**very**_** interesting…**

When I heard my alarm clock go off, I smacked the crap out of it. Then, since I outsmarted myself, my phone alarm started playing KoRn. I sighed, shut that off, got up and changed. Then, it took the letters, and shoved them back into my skate. I slapped a little concealer on, to hide how tired I was, and tied my screwed up-looking hair back into a ponytail. It was only seven thirty, PM. I grabbed my flute, and turned around to see Calla.

"Where are you going?" she asked "I can take you to breakfast"

"Um, I'm looking for someone. Her name's Taylor, she's a friend of a friend" I lied

"Taylor Bell? She's a sixth former. She doesn't belong here, from what Kat told me, she never has." The phrase would sound mean, coming from anyone but Calla.

"what?" I asked

"I mean, she's never really gotten over the initial 'I want to be human again' phase. And she refuses to participate in rituals. Because she's still a Christian, even though Nyx chose her for something." Calla explained "She's like the opposite of you."

This sounded exactly like the kind of fledgling Dad would find. "Well, that makes sense, because it's a human friend." I explained

Calla sighed "Do you need to meet her now?"

I stopped and thought… I had no clue what to say or do if I found said Taylor Bell, so I should probably figure it out first… "No. I'll wait until after class."

"Did Riley see something happening?" Calla asked "Because you're acting weird" The caring tone to her voice made the harsh words sound less bitchy.

"Just… tired" I said lamely.

"Well yeah, you were reading those letter-things at like three pm" Calla shrugged "why the heck were you up at three pm?"

"Couldn't sleep." I was going to win some lame-excuse award soon. I was going to have to learn to lie better, if I wanted to keep this lifestyle. On my way down the stairs, with Calla, I noticed Indy. Her eyes were sort of a grey-ish colour.

"Shell." She acknowledged me "Hi."

_Later_

Alana gave me permission to miss second period, to do some research. Aka, she saw how tired I was, and wanted to give me a break. I went to the first computer, and typed in gmail. After checking mine, I created an account for 'Delilah Wintree'. She was going to email my dad. I began to type.

"Daryl

I've been locked out of my email. Hackers these days, what would anyone have against our noble cause? I need you to help me get back in. I may know something about volunteers. Subject One" I loathed calling Thorn that, but I had to sound like Delilah.

"Is exhibiting abnormal behaviour. I think Fred wants to pull the plug on the entire operation. How long until subject two?" meaning, what was my deadline for warning her?

"Regards, Delilah." I sent it. The response was instant

"If you're Delilah, what's my daughter's name, subject one and two's names, and what did subject one send me?"

Too easy "Nicole Kaylee Mackenzie, Shae Wilder, Taylor Bell, I picture, a sound byte and a mask." I typed and sent it.

"Okay, what should I reset your password to?" he replied

"*D*n122k# zzy*" I chose something secure, and scientific. Like she would.

"How very practical. Password reset." He responded

I signed in. There was an entire twelve page conversation. I scanned it. Taylor was due in three days for her cure. A girl named Ariana Fair was next. Then … ME!

I was going to lose this! My new life. Everything. Also on the list were someone named Lori (no last name) and a Cheyenne Wintree.

Ariana's date was in two weeks, with mine. Lori and Cheyenne were the week after us.

Shit. Shit. Shit. I blearily hit sign out, and I fainted on the ground.

_Later_

I awoke in the infirmary. Jaylen was there. Indy was too, and I felt oddly numb. "You fainted in the library. So you know" She explained "You fell on the stapler. Six stitches." She smiled faintly, but her eyes were a nervous amber. I wasn't fooled by her attempt at reassuring me.

"Are you okay?" Jaylen asked, worriedly

"Never better" I said sarcastically, I felt like I was going to vomit. I was going to lose this all in two weeks. I turned so I was facing Jaylen, and a reckless thought blasted through my head. "Hey, Jaylen, can I ask you something?"

His response was easy "Sure, Shell. Whatever you want to know"

"Do you like me" I asked "I like you"

He held his hands up in a universal stop motion "Shell, I've known you two nights. You're great and all, and I definitely want to stay your friend but-" shit

"Umm, I meant as a friend. I wanted to know if I was friendly enough here, because I've been told I'm not very likable." Suckish save, but better than no save at all

"You seem friendly, and you certainly took to being a fledgling. I can't imagine quite why people would say that"

"Well, people will say anything" I shrugged "but you were right yesterday only not yesterday, yester-night" I giggled. Painkillers.

"what was I right about?" He asked

"The whole "it's not about what you are, it's about who you are" thing" I smiled "Thorn says hi." Then I realized I'd blown my cover "Through my friend Nicole." Then, I got much needed sleep. My time here was numbered.

**Review. KShade over and out.**


	10. Thorn

**Ok, during school two stories are continued, please vote for your two faves, voting closes Tuesday, at 4:15 pm my time (at the end of my first school day.) I'm updating everything before then. I'm at an impasse in this story (fancy term for writers block), so here goes a one-shot type thing. Those of you who like Thorn are in for a treat.**

_Shae Wilder_

"Shae, a moment, please" Mme LaMellieure announced, at the end of class. Damn. I knew I'd taken my ploy too far. The grades were worth it, but barely. I hiked my shirt up. Jaylen shot me a sympathetic look. Monica, Maria, Michaela, and Melody (also known as rated M by Kylee and I, before Kylee was Marked) whispered. A note hit the back of my head. It had "Shae" written on it in swirly cursive. Melody's writing. I opened it to see something ridiculous written by her, of course. I folded it in half, then quarters, then eights, then sixteenths, and thirty seconds and… the bell rang. It was a light little "Ding, ding, ding" and then the low rumble of the bell, to declare the end of the day. I handed Jaylen my stuff, and asked him to ditch it in my locker. LaMellieure was pacing at the front of the room. Finally, she opened the door, to check who was there. No one was in the hall. She sighed, and dialled something into her small flip phone. "Come in" she spoke after a twelve second pause.

That was when I saw her. As she walked through the door to the classroom, she commanded my attention. She had long, silky black hair, like the night sky. Her eyes were midnight blue, and they lit up like stars. She had the crescent moon on her forehead, surrounded by a circle of flames. On her hand was Nyx's labyrinth. She was here to Mark me.

"Shae Wilder! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!" she said. She extended one finger and pointed to my forehead. It exploded in pain and I blacked out for a moment. When I came to, I was in the back of a van.

"Hello?" I asked "who's there" I felt like I was in a poorly made horror movie.

The Tracker turned around. "Shae, it's me. I apologise for not telling you this earlier, but I had to get you out of there."

"Why?" I asked, trying to sound pissed off, but the fear in my voice coming through. Kylee hadn't had any issues like this. Why did I have to be the screwy one?

"I understand this is confusing, even terrifying for you" She started "It's those damned anti-Vampyre scientists. They've perfected what they've dubbed 'the cure for vampyrism' your family volunteered you for their first test subject. They have the right to do whatever the hell they've cooked up as a 'cure' There is no information available on it. All I know is that my Goddess told me not to let them get you."

I try to comprehend the information. My family threw me under the bus. There are people out there who want to use some unholy prescription cocktail on me. Nyx sent the Tracker to protect me. Cool. I've got this figured out, sort of.

"We're taking you far away." She explained, as we pulled into the airport. She handed me a suitcase, a debit card, and a purse. In the purse was a phone, and a new ID that read "Thorn Molina" How did she know about my alias?

"The High Priestess saw that you would choose the name." she explained "in the suitcase is clothing and essentials." She handed me a plane ticket. The destination was set for Billings, Montana.

Once I finally got through customs, I sat down in the waiting area, and downloaded songs to my IPhone. I bought books on the kobo app. I created a new email, and emailed Jaylen and Kylee. Just a "hey, I'm going on vacation, It's a long story. Don't tell anyone you got this email. Delete it once you read it. I'll contact you later.

-Thorn" because they knew my alias, and hopefully, the people trying to find me didn't. Ky responded instantly.

"Thorny! Where in the hell are you? What's with the whole mystery thing"

"I'm safe. I have to run. Complicated reasons."

_After a month_

I woke up back in Calgary. I was in some lab-type building that I knew my dad worked at. There was a black–haired man in a lab coat. He had light blue eyes cold as his soul, and the room. His nametag read "Daryl Mackenzie PHD" He was holding a long needle that was made of steel. Or some other shiny metallic stuff. What I'm saying is I couldn't see what was in the needle. My father was in the room, debating with a tall, austere woman. Daryl took an antiseptic wipe, and rubbed it over my arm.

"Miss Wintree, if you please" He called. I tried to run, but I noticed my feet were bound, as were my legs, and my other arm.

"It was difficult to find you, Miss Wilder" The woman "Delilah Wintree PHD" addressed me in a cool, clinical voice

"This is illegal" I seethed "Let me go!" I fought against the restraints

"I'm afraid I cannot authorize that, Miss Wilder. Your parents signed all the necessary documentation. We have the legal right to use you in this test." Still there was no emotion in her voice

"Is that your excuse!?" I demanded "My father cares about me! He'd never sign me away!"

"Well, Mr. Wilder, what have you to say on that?" Delilah asked my dad, smugness creeping into her otherwise cool and robotic voice.

"Shae, this is for the best." He started

A surge of anger overwhelmed me. I fought the restraints until they left lines of blood on my wrist, legs and feet. I screamed profanities and insults as scathing tears rolled down my cheeks. Once I'd finished, Dad approached me, trying to placate me.

"You're nothing to me." I spat, and I started to pray to Nyx that she'd free me. Nothing happened. Daryl made dad and Delilah hold my arm down while he injected me. The contents of the needle were like liquid fire, as they burnt a black mark on my arm. I screamed. I kept screaming. Then, my forehead burned with my arm. I started shrieking maniacally, and hallucinating. Why else would I see Nyx telling me that I was still one of her people, that she would be back for me?

_A year later_

Nicole. Mackenzie. I wondered if she knew that it was her dad that did it. There was a flash of something on her face when I showed her my picture. The one for Fine Again. And something was just too coincidental about meeting her. It had to be one of two things, Nyx giving me a sign, or Daryl playing with me.

It was after I thought that that I saw dad's work email still up on the computer screen. In the latest email, were a series of names

"Shae Wilder- successful

Taylor Bell- pending

Ariana Fair- pending

Nicole Mackenzie- pending

Lori (no last name given)- pending

Cheyenne Wintree- pending" Nicole had lied to me. And I didn't like liars.

**Well, that's my sort of clifhanger chapter. Thanks for reading. KShade out.**


	11. A thorny situation, a team forming

**Well, this is on the request of the totally awesomesauce RandomReader17. This one will be interesting on the updating, but I will try to write more.**

_Shell_

When I woke up, I saw my phone blipping. Cautiously, I answered it, hoping it was only a telemarketer, or something.

"Hey, who is it?" I asked

"Depends who answered," I heard a distinctly pissed off Thorn snap

My heart sank. Had she figured me out? "Um, it's Nicole. What's going on?" I asked

"Who are you?" Thorn demanded "Are you my friend, Nicole, or are you Nicole Mackenzie, the fledgling test subject?"

I didn't know what to say "I-I-I ah…" I stammered

"Wrong answer." Thorn snapped

"Come on? You're just going to abandon me, what was I supposed to do, tell you everything. I'd known you a day."

I heard tears in her voice "I did. I told you everything. I trusted you." She'd stopped yelling, and taken on an oddly calm, quiet voice.

"Look, I admire your courage and whatnot, but I'm not like that." I explained "I don't tell people everything up front." She began to hang up, but I cut her off "please, we need to stick together, we 'cure girls'-"

Thorn cut me off "You may have my circumstances, but you'll never be my friend." With that, she hung up. I threw my phone at the wall, and watched as the screen cracked a little. Damn it. The one girl who could've helped me, and I go piss her off. I looked at the clock to see that it's 3:27 am, and school has ended 27 minutes ago. The infirmary was painfully quiet, compared to the halls, which are so full of screaming, yelling and other noises that seeped into my room, but barely.

"Whoa! What did that poor device ever do to you?" Indy demanded, walking in, gloriously distractingly.

I sighed "The phone's innocent." Yeah, because it's my fault.

Indy smiled. She wasn't really happy though, her eyes were seething between blue and amber. Sad, nervous, sad, nervous.

"Rilanna-Appolla had another death vision for you. There was some tubey-thing full of swirly black stuff that they shot into your arm. And it was like, instant death. You rejected the change, and your crescent moon vanished entirely. Like, gone. So, there was no coming back. And afterwards, the injector was shocked, he was like 'my child was the failure' and whatnot. Plus this artist girl sketched you before you died, in this electric chair, with the syringe instead of electricity, with this sign that said "Martyr or accident, take your pick". Indy paused "She told me, Jaylen, and what's-her-face. Your roommate."

"Calla." I explained, letting myself slowly process the info. Then, I saw the silhouette of a girl sprint past the door.

"Who's that?" I asked

"I don't know, some girl named Taylor. She's a human in a vampyre body." Like the Taylor Bell?

"NO!" I jumped off my bed and sprinted for the door, realizing how crazy I looked. "Look, Indy, I get how insane I seem , but we need to stop that girl. I'll explain later."

Indy said nothing, but turned invisible, after winking. I ran after Taylor screaming "wait! Wait!" she turned around

"Who the hell are you?" She demanded, I noted how her mark was covered by her brown bangs, but still there. Thank Nyx.

"Daryl Mackenzie's daughter" I explained

Her lip crinkled "So, the disease creeps even into the most noble of families?"

I was repulsed by her demeaning comment "I'm not diseased, I was chosen, by Nyx. You know, a loving Goddess who's path you're shitting on."

"You're pathetic." She snapped "A pathetic girl, with your pathetic lie that you cling to."

Indy appeared "What does that make me?"

"A desperate lesbian, with her desperate lie, and her desperation to be different." Taylor snapped, "So, Nicole, if you decide to be mature, and use your brain, come be liberated"

I ignored Indy's WTF look, and continued "Like I have a choice."

Taylor Bell walked away snarkily "Then I'll be seeing you on the better side" .

After she'd left, Indy gave me a look "So, Miss Nicole, daughter of Daryl Mackenzie who has no choice, start from the start, and leave nothing out." Her tone was frosty, and her eyes were white and emotionless.

I launched into the story, showing her the letters, and the drawing, and telling her everything. I needed someone to get me through this. Indy listened, stopping me with the occasional question. Her eyes stayed white the whole time. Once I was done they began to flash. Blue, are, amber, plum-purple, military green, soft candlelight yellow, and settling on steely grey. Determination.

"We're in this together. You, me and Lex. First, we sort you out, then, we go get Lex from Tulsa, if she came back. But we have to agree that we're a team."

She wanted to help me? Why? We barely knew each other. "Why?" I stammered out, reeling from the shock of not being alone.

"Because I like you. You're my friend. You accepted me. I want to help you, so as long as I can, I'm going to fight for you. So, you can't give up, until you're dead. We clear?" Indy explained

That's when another song clip came on "And we are caught in the fire  
At the point of no return  
So we will walk through the fire  
And let it  
Burn  
Let it burn  
Let it burn  
Let it burn!" From Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Huh, well, that was ironic)

"That's Lex. She's telling us through thick and thin, we've got to work together" Indy insisted. I just nodded, wondering why everyone didn't love the Indigo Marius I knew. Someone with this determination, this kindness, and all that love should be the kind of girl who's revered.. not the stuck up, model like girls, like Ailith. One can only wonder if there's any justice in the world.

But instead of voicing my thoughts, I just gave my friend a hug, and said "I guess you're right. Team."

**Well, sorry, I neglected to update, but I'm back now. KShade out ;)**


	12. knowing Nicole

**Well, sorry, updating got difficult, because I'm focusing on my marks this year, but here I am, on a two hour cartrip, so I'll write during that.**

It was the day after Taylor Bell left, and Indy and I were sitting in the library. She was studying, and I was looking at the picture Thorn had drawn. Every neatly inked line she'd arduously drawn to give to my dad. I looked at his face in the image, and he didn't look like the caring father I'd known him as. He looked like a monster. Like a cold, uncaring monster who could take away someone's life for his idea of life. For his twisted ideals. Indy looked up from her textbook. "So, can you name the people in the picture?" she asked

I pointed at Thorn's image, sitting on the table with a noose around her neck and a sign that bore the words _can you take it all away? _"That's Thorn. She's the strongest person I know. If it were anyone but her they wouldn't have gone on."

Indy nodded "And that guy?" she asked, pointing at my dad

"That's my dad. The Daryl Mackenzie I told you about." I said flatly

"Well, you've got quite the father, haven't you." She smirked "that one?" she pointed at a tall, burly looking man who looked agonized.

"Dad's friend Fred. I have no clue but I think he's Shae's dad." I replied, sighing and seeing the kind of pain that was that tangible on his face. He felt bad seeing that he had caused his daughter that kind of pain.

"I see that. He regretted it. And who's she?" she pointed at a tall, confidant woman, with long, ice-esque hair, and an expression frosty enough to freeze Hell over.

"Delilah Wintree. Dad had her over all the time. She's a bitch, and she has a daughter who's also a bitch. I can see Delilah liking this project." I replied

Indy looked behind her, to ensure there was no one else in the room. She spotted Jaylen, Rilanna-Appolla and Calla.

"Hey, Shell!" Calla called, running over "We were so worried! Riley had a vision and no one knows anything about how to prevent it."

Rilanna-Appolla's mouth dropped open into a comical 'O' when she glimpsed Thorn's picture "That's the artist!" She shrieked "And the scientists! How did you-"

I cut her off "My source is unimportant."

Jaylen looked at me for awhile, before breaking the awkward silence that had formed "Thorn told me about her friend Nicole. Everything about her friend Nicole."

I gulped and tried to sound calm, despite the blush coming to my cheeks "Nicole did what she had to do. Her hand was sort of forced in the matter." I replied

"Who's Nicole?" Rilanna-Appolla asked, toying with her circlet

"Nicole is like the human version of me, we're friends" I replied

"She still wants to be Nicole's friend, if Nicole would explain things to her." Jaylen added

I felt a burst of hope "Nicole will." I answered truthfully

"How much did Indigo tell you?" Rilanna-Appolla demanded

"Everything she knew." I replied "And I know who the people are"

"How?" Rilanna-Appolla demanded

"The scientists are my dad and his coworkers." I pointed them out on the drawing "did you see these three?" she nodded "Okay," I continued "This is the artist, right?" I pointed at Thorn

"Yeah, except she was covering her mark." Riley responded

"Yeah. " I lied, simpler that way.

"So how are we going to keep you alive?" Calla asked

"Reese is a warrior. I can get him and his friends to guard you." Riley suggested

I wanted to say yes, but I remembered the other names. Taylor Bell, Lori Fury, Ariana Fair and Thorn. "No. You guys just have to trust me, Indy will go with me. She can turn invisible."

"I'm not so sure about that." Jaylen argued

High Priestess Talia walked in "Not so sure of what?" She asked and then saw the drawing. She recoiled as though slapped

"Miss DelaNuit, what exactly is that?" She asked

I shoved the picture back into my backpack "An ex-friend's idea of a joke." I lied. Indy's eyes turned yellow.

"They were clearly unaware that the subject they depicted is…" she trailed off "Never mind."

She left. Indy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hold on a second. I'm starting to think there's more to this than you told us." Riley declared "Talia's never looked that freaked out."

That's when my phone rang. I answered it "Hey?"

"Is this Nicole?" I heard Thorn demand

"Yes! Thorn! I'm so happy you called back!" I cried

"Don't throw the 'yay-she's-back-party yet" She snapped "Jaylen knows. I talked to him. And some girl called me on your cell. She was all freaked out about everything, so she knows too."

"That was Indy. I told her. The next girl checked out yesterday." I replied cryptically, trying not to let her know

"Taylor?" Thorn asked "Her time is about a day away. Dad never closes his email. I need you to see if you can find a Delaney Wilder. She should be a sixth former. Or a Kylie Witt, she's a fourth former. Delaney's my sister, Kylie's my friend. They'll help you. I've got to go, it's close to midnight." She hung up

I was glad to have my friend back, but now I had yet another thing to do, finding those two. Riley glared at me a little when I got back "Who checked out, and what does Indy know?"

"Indy knows people back in Tulsa." I replied, not actually lying, after all, she should know people there "and the checking out is something personal" I added

Riley sighed and said "Well, Lilly and I have to go back to classes. Keep me posted." And her and Calla left.

"So, Nicole, what's going on?" Jaylen asked after the two of them left

"I made a deal that to come here, I had to live my human life for the rest of High School, so as not to dishonour my family. The first day I was there I met Shae, or Thorn as she goes by now. I lied to her about my species, and my name, but nothing else. She told me everything. That's when I found these letters." I thrust them at him "and her drawing. So I got into Delilah's email and saw the dates. Shae was human-ified. I discovered she was a fledgling, but she was human-ified."

Jaylen's eyes met mine and he shook his head "This is ridiculous. She was never a fledgling."

"No, you never saw her as a fledgling." I replied "See, my dad, her dad and one other scientist created a way to re-human-ify"

"Wouldn't it be re-humanize?" He interrupted

"Re-humanize fledglings. That's what Riley saw happening to me. First was Shae, then Taylor Bell from sixth form is tomorrow. Then in less than two weeks me and some girl named Ariana are going in, then after us is Cheyenne, I've met her and someone named Lori."

"This all sounds a little far fetched." Jaylen said as he leafed through the letters

Indy sighed "Call Thorn then. She'll prove it." Her eyes were grey with determination.

**Well, there you go, I updated. Review, if there's still anyone there, reading. Shadi over and out.**


	13. recipe for disaster

**Hii! I am sorry for not updating, I was doing a challenge (30 days of House of Night) which means that I had to write something for that, every day. Then, I wrote a Christmas story. **

That night, or day to be accurate, just as I was preparing to go to my other school and face the music, Jaylen came running into my room.

"What the heck are you _doing_ in here!?" I demanded, whispering so as to avoid waking Calla

"I called her. I had to know." He whispered "this is ridiculous."

I ran into the bathroom, to brush my hair "No, really? The girl who's living on about four hours of sleep couldn't possibly think that." I remarked, feeling tired

"Why don't I go with you? We can say that I'm your foreign cousin. Riley's had three visions of you dying there, and I don't want you to have to go alone."

"Stevens reports to my dad. Bringing a fledgling with me is just digging my hole deeper. But I need you to look for Delaney wilder, Thorn- Shae said she'd help. Her and Kylie Witt." I explained

Jaylen stood just outside the bathroom door, giving me an exhausted look. "Assuming neither of them transferred, or died, for that matter, they won't be up and I won't have access to search for them until you're back. No reason I can't do both." Jaylen argued

I sighed, and put my straightener down, turning to face Jaylen "If you're coming, you can't be _my _cousin." I returned to my hair

"Then, I won't be." He pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialled "Hey, Thorn." I heard the smile in his voice "yeah, I know, we've been talking a lot now. I was wondering if I could pretend to be your cousin."

There was a long pause and he laughed "yeah, I know it sounds weird, but Shell, or Nicole, whichever you call her" my conscience panged "could potentially be in danger. Riley, she's our oracle, had a few visions of Shell getting killed down there." He explained, being far more honest than I ever had been.

"Okay, I'll see you then." He mouthed "yes" at me and hung up.

I quickly finished brushing my teeth and that kind of stuff, and then crossed my arms "Alana drives me. She's not letting you come." I said, trying not to bring Jaylen to the place where I'd screwed everything up, that much.

"Good thing I have a car." He replied

"well, my cover up won't work on you." I tried, comparing my ridiculously pale concealer to his beautiful, chocolate coloured arm. Side note: it's not weird at all that I called his arm beautiful.

"Mine will. It's part of living here that they give you some." He pulled a nondescript blue container from his pocket.

"Fine, but I'm catching a ride with you then. I'll tell Alana." I smiled, running off to talk to my mentor.

Alana exuded a cool ray of calmness that I wished I could emulate. Even at 7:30 PM. "I'm getting a ride." I explained, turning to leave

Her eyes skewered mine "from?" she asked

I wanted to lie, but she beat me to it, sighing and saying "And how did Mr. McLee get implicated?"

"Jaylen volunteered, Rilanna-Appolla had a vision of my death at that school, so he wanted to be a little careful." I explained

"How did you obtain the drawing? Talia was all in a flap about it." I wasn't sure she should talk about the High Priestess like that but…

"I told you, and her." I steeled my mind, trying to be like Harry Potter and use occlumency "It was a joke from my friends back at the school I'm going to. That's why it was my dad." _Occlumency. Occlumency_. I focused my thoughts.

Alana laughed "Occlumency? Very well, take your ride with Jaylen. Inform me if you hear anything interesting about the drawing, or the subject matter in that drawing." She hinted, and I wanted to cave and tell her everything. I wanted a mother-figure to help me and tell me it would be all right. I couldn't do it. A part of me didn't want to let them get away with messing with Thorn, didn't want anyone to suffer that way.

"Nope." I shrugged, "sorry. All I know was that it was my dad in the picture."

Alana choked on her coffee a little "I need to see the picture." She announced "Is your father's name Daryl Mackenzie?" she demanded

I nodded. "Yeah. But now I gotta go." I was still focusing on occlumency

I ran from the room, letting my thoughts go as I got into the car. Jaylen's car was sleek, and a dark blue that wouldn't draw attention to itself. Modest, but beautiful. I wanted to smack myself for using that word so many times. Jaylen turned to me at the first red light "I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

I laughed "right, you're sorry you don't buy ridiculous stories told to you by girls you've known for about a week." I quickly glanced out the window "to be honest, I'd be more concerned if you just believed me. Hell, I don't want to believe me."

He smiled "I just hoped you wouldn't have the wrong impression of me."

"Not 'cause you came into a girl's dorm. No way that gives people the wrong idea." I said sarcastically

He laughed "you weren't changing."

"How'd you know?" I demanded

"Lucky guess" he admitted "and I had to stop you, or go with you or something. Thorn warned me that things might be a little interesting."

"Why?" I demanded, being entirely clueless

"Delilah Wintree is giving a 'practical applications of science speech." He explained

Me, Thorn, Jaylen and Delilah Wintree. This would not end well.

Oh carp.

**Well, this was a bit short, but I'll write more soon. I've written a couple of one-shots about characters… they're in 30 days of house of Night, chapters 10 and 25. The first one is about Alexa, the second is about Cheyenne. KShade out.**


	14. Warning

**Dedicated to Random Reader 17, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!**

Once Jaylen pulled into the parking lot, I noticed Delilah walking into the school . She was... Well, she hasn't changed. She reminded me of an ice statue. She had cut her platinum hair to the tips of her shoulders and her eyes remained blue with a spark of darker blue around the pupil. She wore a pair of black dress pants and a pristine white lab coat.

"That's Delilah." I whispered to Jaylen

"Hopefully she won't recognize you. Or me, because I used to go here." He responded.

"With my luck-" I started

"Hey, cousin! Long time no see!" Thorn chirped, looking happier than she'd looked in all my time knowing her.

Jaylen opened the door and gave her a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages! You look so different, I barely recognized you!" She cried

"So do you!" Jaylen replied "did you dye your hair?" He asked

She smiled and released him "yeah, I've been dyeing it for a while now."

He smiled and grabbed my hand, helping me from the car. I kind of felt jealous of the way he and Thorn went back ages. Thorn shot me a look. "And you owe me a serious explanation, Nic-shell" Thorn reprimanded.

"Yeah, I do. I guess I was just afraid to tell anyone, because Riley, she's a prophetess, saw three deaths for me there." I remarked, feeling tried and annoyed and generally just wanting to curl up into a ball and not deal with all this.

Thorn looked shocked, "_What!? _And you still came here! Are you crazy!?" she demanded

"That's why Jaylen is here. I had to bring someone." I said, omitting that he came purely because I couldn't stop him.

Jaylen raised an eyebrow as if to say 'you mean I didn't force you to bring me?' and I elbowed him lightly.

Then, Delilah walked back out past us, raising her eyebrows upon seeing Thorn and I. "Shae Wilder and Nicole Mackenzie, who might the third be?" she asked

Jaylen forced himself to meet her eyes. "Jaylen. I'm from a visiting school for the seminar." He didn't think the cousin excuse would get him anywhere with someone who could very easily ask either my dad or Thorn's.

Delilah shook out her hair and looked down at him from her already tall form wearing heels "Well, I didn't realize I was famous."

"Oh yes, my school gave me the day off just to come here. I'm in AP chem, physics and bio, so they figured it'd be beneficial." Jaylen lied through his teeth.

Delilah smiled "well, I look forward to seeing you there." And strutted away

"She sort of scares me." I whispered

Thorn laughed a little "yeah, that's for sure. How the hell did you manage to seem so relaxed?" she asked Jaylen

"Because Shell barely got to telling me about her." He explained, causing the three of us to burst into laughter, mostly to vent off the tension.

"So, what exactly am I supposed to call you?" Thorn asked after we were done laughing, sobering me up instantly, and augmenting the tension in the room.

"Shell preferably." I replied quietly

"So, who exactly was this Indy I spoke to?" Thorn asked

"A friend. We're in band together. She's also my confidante." I explained

Then, a girl came running up to Thorn, seemingly out of the blue. She was tanned, with shoulder length golden hair, a look of shock in her blue and green eyes. "This sounds crazy, but you three are in danger if you go in there." She announced "The lady with the whitish hair is going to take you two." she pointed at Jaylen and I and you're going to get knocked out trying to help them." She pointed at Thorn

"How do you-" I started, but was cut off by Thorn

"Is this some elaborate joke?" Thorn demanded

"No, I swear. I just want to help." She explained, looking sincere "I have a gift. I know things before they happen and the scientist is going to take your friends for some sort of experiment." She looked crestfallen "you don't believe me, do you?"

I sighed, forcing myself to think clearly "can you tell me about the experiment?" I asked

Her eyes met mine, looking completely sincere "it's where they hold you down and stick this black stuff into your arm. The guy called it something, but I can't recall."

"Darylite?" I asked, feeling queasy

"Yeah, that's exactly it!" she declared

I looked at Jaylen and Thorn before Thorn wrapped her arms around the girl "Thank you so much for saving my friends!" She whispered, breathing a sigh of relief

"You're welcome" the girl replied awkwardly, not sure what to do with Thorn hugging her.

Thorn let go "I'm Thorn, this is Jaylen, and that there is Shell."

"Ari" The girl replied

Little did I know, we'd be seeing her sooner than I thought…

**I'm so sorry this is short. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! KShade out!**


	15. Sweet Sacrifice

**Hiya everyone! It's my birthday, and I wanted to write something for you all. I was working on a chapter of Fallen Priestess, but those chapters take **_**centuries**_** to write, don't get me wrong, I love it, it's my favourite story that I'm writing right now. I never thought I'd say that about any story with Neferet in it. But today is my birthday, so I thought I would get nostalgic and look for my earliest HoN fic. The original one is gone (thank Nyx it is) so I saw this one, in all it's almost-a-year-old glory. Yayy. I may just have to rewrite it, but for now, I'm just going to update it. This chapter is going into the stories of all six people on the list, starting with Shell currently.**

After one almost-death, we regrouped at the House of Night, taking Thorn with us, for lack of a better option. Alana looked shocked when the three of us marched through the door, Jaylen and I looking tired and Thorn skipping in, feeling completely nostalgic. Everything she saw reminded her of something from her old House of Night. She even hugged Alana "I remember you!" she blurted, smiling like a kid in a candy store would.

Alana hugged her "Thorn," she whispered, "I'm so sorry, Thorn," she added, looking contrite. Thorn hugged her back, laying her hear on the older vampyre's shoulder and smiling to herself. If I wasn't mistaken, she started to hum Fine Again. Huh.

"Professor Lehane?" Jaylen asked, an expression of confusion appearing on his face, "how do you know Thorn?" he asked.

Alana smiled "Jaylen, I've told you a million times, outside of class, you're completely welcome to call me Alana. Thorn was one of the first fledglings I marked, Actually. She was definitely the most complicated. I had to arrange for a flight in under twenty minutes, clear it with two High Priestesses and persuade possibly the most frustrating human teacher to hide me in a supply closet," she smiled wistfully, "good times."

Thorn gasped, "you were in the storage closet?" she asked, giggling a little. Thorn seemed so much happier here, it was like she'd come alive, if that makes any sense. She seemed more vibrant than the bitter, sad Thorn I'd met initially.

Alana smiled at her, "It was not fun, I can tell you that," she responded, laughing a little to herself.

Thorn asked about a friend, and Alana led her off elsewhere, leaving Jaylen and I behind. Jaylen turned to me, "You know, you've got something here," he whispered, wiping the concealer off my mark, gently. His fingers caressed across my face, making me smile.

I moved my hands to his forehead, stroking the concealer away, "Funny, you seem to have a little bit there as well," I remarked. My cool fingers caused him to shiver a little. I moved my face towards his, taking a deep breath, and thinking _this is really happening!_

"What _are_ you two doing out of your dormitories," demanded an irate Professor Kura.

Jaylen smiled, "Shell—ah, Rochelle—had to go back to her human school and I was sent as an escort. She'd merely asked that I aid her in removing the concealer over her mark," he explained, as though it was nothing. I walked to the girls dorm, feeling disappointed. Then, I turned around to see Jaylen. Quietly, he pulled me in and kissed me. It was just a gentle kiss on the lips, and then he whispered, "goodnight, Shell."

_Thorn POV_

"Does Kylee Witt still go here?" I asked, "Or, Delaney Wilder? She's my sister," I added, feeling happy just to be here. Here in Nyx's House of Night, it felt almost like being back with Nyx, closer to Nyx.

Alana smiled sympathetically, "Delaney made the change three days ago. She's still here though, we give newly changed vampyres a week to decide what they want to do, and then they leave, generally. Kylee Witt actually just moved up to be a fifth former. She should be here, although, of course they're both sleeping right now," she explained.

"Delaney made the Change!" I cried, in awe completely, "That's amazing! Do you think she'd mind if I came to visit?" I asked, hopefully. I remembered Delaney before she'd left, how she'd been a great, albeit awkward older sister. I wondered if she was still as odd, or if, since becoming a vampyre, she'd become more average.

Alana grabbed my hand, leading me down a narrow hall to a door, which led outside, "it's this way. Her roommate may not be the nicest, but I'm sure she can spare a bit of sleep for her sister," she then told me to go "up the stairs, to the fifth floor, to room 530." I hesitantly rapped her knuckles on the door.

A girl opened it, smoothing her reddish-brown hair out as she did so. Her vivid hazel eyes met mine with a look of derision. Her Marks looked like swirls and clouds and mist, really mysterious and dramatic when you combine the three; however, the drama was downplayed by her fuzzy floral pyjamas.

"Delaney?" I asked, wondering if this girl was really her sister.

The girl (who might or might not have been my sister) squinted at me, as though confused, "Shae?" she asked, "is it you under all that?" she referred to the make up and the hair dye, even the contacts, which had become a permanent part of my appearance. I knew I looked markedly different from when I'd last seen Delaney. I would've still answered to Shae and looked normal, as in brown hair, brown eyes and less concert-ready.

I smiled at my gaping sibling, "In the flesh," I remarked. Ah yes, my smart-ass ness lives on. That, I think would live on no matter what.

Delaney hugged me, her eyes then seeing the black spot on my arm, "What's-" she started, her eyes widening to anime proportions.

"A long story," I said vaguely. Stroking the spot on her arm and cringing a little, I added, "and not a nice one," the words echoed ominously around the room.

Delaney only paused a moment before yelling "Isis! I'm going for a walk, don't wait up," and left with me, saying "well, then it's best you start at the start, leave nothing out and spare no one's feelings,"

_Cheyenne, a couple months back_

"Cast off and peasant at twelve o'clock,"Ailith alerted as they passed "Let's go, Mal," she smirked at her newest boyfriend, Malik. Newest in that she brok up with ther other boyfriend thirty-six seconds _after _she started dating Malik. She'd tried to lie about it being after, but I had an affinity that said otherise.

'Mal' looked absolutely infuriated at the pet name, but, like the rest of us, didn't want to cross Ailith, so he merely said "your wish is my command," and kissed her hand exaggeratedly. The instant he said that, it came close enough to lying that I heard his voice in my head, amending it 'why did I hit on this bitch?'

"How jealous are you?" she whispered nastily as they left, flipping her long, ebony hair. I walked right up to the guy who had Anthony pinned against the wall. Anthony being a nerd I was kinda dating. But only secretly. Ailith would have a field day with it. I would never be able to show my face here.

I cleared my throat, stifling the hacking cough, and trying to look like a bored bitch. Maybe because, until I'd come here, I was. Mom's (stolen) science notes on _destructuralization of Deoxyribonucleic Acid for the antinomy of adverse genetic sequences_, were _really_ thrilling when the only words anyone normal understood were is, and, the, etc.

Mr. Muscles turned around "Cheyenne Wintree, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, sounding downright slimy to me. Ailith's type, for sure.

I figured I'd need to mess with his head a little to have him obey me, so I grabbed his face and smashed his lips to mine, in a hot (but still too slimy for my liking) kiss. I then pushed him away. "I can do that," he smirked, his eyes never going above my neck. Anthony wore an expression of shock. I guess he wasn't used to bitch-me.

"No, I don't do cast offs. Just blotting my lip gloss, and I didn't have a tissue handy," I snapped coolly, "I need the nerd," I hardened my voice enough to make Anthony wince a little… sorry Tony.

"What's nerd-burger got that I don't?" the guy, I still didn't know his name, demanded.

"Quite simply, he has a brain and a Vamp Soc. paper. I have you pass, you see," I pushed the stunned fledgling out of the way "you heard me, move!" I snapped at a shell-shocked Anthony, trying to stay in character without hurting him. I guess that ship was sailed.

He followed me until we were alone in the next hall. Then, he crossed his arms and stopped. I stepped back and looked at him. His curly brown hair was dishevelled and his blue eyes looked openly hurt through his reading glasses, still on from class. His thin frame didn't appear to be broken or maimed in any way. I coughed again. Good, no maiming.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, looking really upset. I didn't blame him. I didn't really like bitch-me either.

"Social manipulation." I re-buttoned my shirt, "he found me attractive, I screwed him over, you didn't get hurt. Easy-peasy," I shrugged. Then,I dramatically wiped my mouth, making 'yuck' noises.

"How would you feel if you saw me kissing another girl?" he asked, still sounding upset.

"Well, I might tell Ailith to ruin her, but not until I got the full story," I replied honestly, "And it wasn't so much a kiss as a lip-on-lip assault," I wiped my lip exaggeratedly, "eew, frog slime," I commented

He smiled despite himself, and I coughed again, louder. I tasted something foreign in my mouth. No. No, it couldn't be. I hacked again, spitting what was in my mouth into a tissue. It stained red. I was dying!

_No_. I curled up in the middle of the hall, sobbing hysterically and letting the blood flow. I was dying! _I _was dying! I was _dying_

Anthony jumped back in shock. "Should I go and get Talia?" he asked, referring to the High Priestess.

"NO!" I cried, "first, I don't want to die with frog on my mouth," I said, oddly clearly. I was thinking oddly clearly. My priorities were different. I hoped the freaking world saw, for all I cared.

Anthony walked over to me, hesitantly, and wiped the bloody tears from my eyes. He pulled my face to his slowly, letting himself think. I sped things up, and wrapped my hands around the back of his head, bringing him closer to me. Our lips touched slowly, more gently than I was accustomed to. Then he tasted the blood. Being a fifth former, and therefore closer to being a vampyre, it really affected him. Moments later, I pulled away and said, "now, go to my room, get the binder on my bed and the tablet under it. When they take my stuff I don't want to have them finding that," I whispered, feeling light headed.

Talia came running into the room, no doubt called by a random bystander. She carried a vial of oddly pearlescent liquid, "drink and the pain will go away," she instructed. It didn't hurt much now, and when it had, Anthony had distracted me from it.

"I'm dying!" I realized, as it suddenly became real to me. "Help me! Please!" I grabbed onto Talia's arm. She poured the bitter drink into my mouth, and I felt my body shut down.

"Cheyenne," I heard a voice. Nyx!

"I'm so sorry! Please don't send me away," I begged "I get that I've been a bitch and I don't deserve to stay here, but please don't send me out," I felt tears well up in my eyes. Nyx floated in, and wiped the tears from my eyes. I looked around. I was sitting beneath a tree with little pieces of cloth flapping merrily from the branches. Nearby, there was a stream. This was in a little clearing in the forest.

"Cheyenne, you punish yourself enough trying to live your life in secret. And as for staying here, you cannot, because you are not truly dead," Nyx replied.

"But- but I rejected the change," I stammered.

"Many fledglings return as a new type of fledgling," Nyx smiled, "and I assure you, you will not reject the change a second time."

Then, she kissed my forehead and I felt a slight stinging there, as my vision faded. I was going back!

**My official descision for this story is that I'm redoing it entirely… I like the plot but I made enough mistakes that I really don't need… **_**people**_** seeing it. So, what I'm doing is (da da da duh!) there are going to be multiple POVs, namely: Thorn, Shell, Cheyenne and a few surprising ones you haven't seen yet. Shell was getting to be a little… frustrating… I'll leave this edit up until I reach this point in the other one (which will be called **_** The Cure Trilogy: Sweet Sacrifice) **_**yeah, I have a trilogy planned. Thanks for reading XX KShade.**


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